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My hols: Ray Mears

He may enjoy witchetty grubs in the bush, but he also loves dining at the Ivy

I LIKE my food. For my new series, I’ve been sampling witchetty grubs in Australia, and they’re actually not bad — certainly tastier than Brussels sprouts.

My guilty pleasure is dining out, especially in London, which I think is Europe’s most dynamic city. Aldo Zilli’s fish place I like; the Ivy is good. I love Paris, too — nosing around in the Marais — but it’s hard work finding a decent meal. French cuisine is fantastic — you can’t go wrong in the countryside — but Paris can be snooty, and it’s full of nasty, overpriced places to eat.

The only place where I’ve really struggled with the diet was Mongolia: the overpowering stench of fermentation comes off everything — milk, fish, the lot. I just had to grit my teeth. Or, rather, open my teeth and hold my nose.